Despite ‘quiet’ 6 months on Hilltop, moving homeless village to Eastside stirs unease
Onica Taylor was horrified in November 2019 when she found out the city of Tacoma was constructing a micro shelter for people experiencing homelessness across the street from her Hilltop business.
Taylor told Tacoma City Council as much at a meeting on Nov. 19, four days after she found out about the 22-unit shelter to transition people staying in a massive homeless encampment on People’s Park a block away. She worried the shelter would bring trash, noise and crime closer to her business.
“The Hilltop is not a dumping ground,” Taylor, owner of Acupuncture Clinic of Tacoma on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, said at the meeting. “... I’m mad as hell. I don’t think any of this is transparent. I’m being dumped on as a business owner.”
Now, six months later, she has a different story to tell.
“I have to tell you that it’s been an absolute, quiet, very good experience,” she told The News Tribune over the phone earlier this month. “We have had no direct negative impact from the people living in the tiny homes.”
Since opening in December, the micro shelter has had a mostly quiet existence while serving 60 people, transitioning 12 to housing.
Earlier this month, the city announced it would relocate the shelter on 8th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way to 60th Street and McKinley Avenue on the Eastside.
The shelter, which was meant to be temporary from the get-go, must move because the developers of the Hilltop property will be starting construction on a six-story low-income senior housing project this fall, according to the city.
Despite what the city would call a successful effort on Hilltop, some Eastside residents are voicing their concerns over what it might mean for their neighborhood.
Some say they are frustrated they weren’t involved in the process earlier and don’t want the shelter there at all. Others are voicing support for the shelter and pressuring the city to do more to help people experiencing homelessness across the city.
‘Not one complaint’ in Hilltop
Despite original concerns about the Hilltop shelter, the past six months has been pretty smooth sailing, according to people who live or work nearby.
“I haven’t received any complaints about the micro shelters,” Tacoma City Council member Keith Blocker, who represents Hilltop in District 3, said in an email.
Jo Davies lives a block away from the shelter and volunteered to serve on the shelter’s citizens advisory committee. Davies acts as a point of contact for many people in the neighborhood.
“I have not had one complaint,” she said. “Not one person has approached me or emailed me or phoned me to say, ‘I’ve had a problem with this.’”
The neighborhood and the shelter have been able to coexist responsibly, she said.
“A few people that I’ve talked to expressed surprise about how tidy it was, how colorful it was. It certainly wasn’t — and isn’t — shanty town in any way, and that, in our neighborhood, was very much appreciated,” she said.
Tacoma Police Department Lt. Gretchen Aguirre, commander for police Sector 1, said there have been 15 fire department and police calls to the shelter since it opened. Three of them were police calls related to domestic violence. Overall, that’s a low call volume, she said.
“Quite frankly, we really haven’t had any issues or concerns,” Aguirre said.
The new location
Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) opened the Hilltop shelter through a $388,000 contract with the city that ends in August, prompting the city to find it a new location.
The city has been working with service providers for several years to identify potential temporary shelter sites, staff told The News Tribune.
The city formed a group of service providers last year and started holding meetings, but those meetings were halted due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“A final report on potential sites is expected soon, at which time all locations identified will be vetted as potential sites, with a focus on identifying sites in areas of the city not currently hosting temporary shelter sites,” city spokesperson Megan Snow said. “Council will be briefed on findings and recommendations when the report is received.”
A timeline for releasing the report has not been shared.
While other sites were considered for the relocation, staff said, a big factor in choosing the 60th and McKinley property is because its owner, Tacoma Housing Authority, offered it up for free earlier this year.
“That is probably the primary challenge … to finding appropriate shelter sites, (is) an ability for the property owner to make that property available,” Allyson Griffith, assistant director for the city’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department, said in a presentation to council on May 19.
The agreement with THA passed by City Council on May 19 will last through 2021, as THA plans to develop a housing project there in 2022. The agreement offers the city approximately 1 acre of the 6.43-acre property, also known as Hillsdale Heights, for the shelter, while the rest is currently being used as staging for equipment on a nearby road project.
The new site is expected to hold 50 units serving up to 65 people, up from the 22 units serving 35 people at the Hilltop site. The operational and initial set-up costs of the shelter is estimated to be between $850,000 and $1 million in 2020. The shelter is expected to be up and running by mid-July.
People currently staying at the Hilltop shelter will be offered a chance to make the move to Eastside.
Sharon Lee, executive director at LIHI, said the site will continue to have 24-hour security and a fence and run sex offender checks for those interested in staying at the shelter.
Lee said the shelter also is taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing, use of masks and gloves, frequent disinfecting of high-touch areas and limiting the number of people in shared spaces, like the kitchen, at one time. To date, there have been no known COVID-19 cases from any of LIHI’s villages, Lee said.
Response from Eastside
Aaron Blanchard, director of operations at Earthwise Salvage, first heard in the news that the shelter would be moving in across the street from his workplace.
“It would have been nice to have some insight before the decision was made,” Blanchard told The News Tribune.
Since finding out, Blanchard talked with city staff and feels better knowing the site will have security.
“We’re excited for our new neighbors,” he said.
The staff at Founder’s Choice Cabinetry, also across the street from the shelter, also first heard about the shelter move through the news.
“As with any change that might impact our business operations, our first concerns were for the safety of our employees, customers and property,” said spokesperson Jennifer Sizemore in an email. “Since we reached out to the City of Tacoma, we have been informed of efforts to mitigate any potential threats to our community. As we understand it, the city’s goal for the project is to help homeless individuals establish a stable and healthy lifestyle which will enable them to pursue employment and make positive contributions to our community.”
Blanchard still worries that some customers might not know what’s going on. He also questions the lack of resources around the site. By comparison, the Hilltop location has a Recovery Cafe across the street to help people experiencing homelessness, addiction or mental illness.
“One of my bigger issues is what a resource dead zone that area is,” he said. “I guess I’m a little worried that we are the closest thing.”
Tony Palagruti, a resident on East 51st Street for 30 years, says it’s the proximity of schools and parks that has him concerned about the homeless shelter. Sheridan Elementary, Fawcett Elementary, Unity Children’s day care, Concordia Christian Academy and Boze Elementary are among the schools in the area.
Palagruti worries crimes like theft and drug use will increase in the area and said he talked to many neighbors who feel the same. He said some have started a petition to try to stop it. More than 300 people have signed it, but it’s unclear if they’re all from Eastside.
“People are afraid of the impact (the shelter) will have on the community … It does bring trouble,” he said.
Lynnette Scheidt, president of the Eastside Neighborhood Advisory Council, said she’s heard frustrations from some in the neighborhood.
“We didn’t know — we just all of a sudden got an email that said this is going to happen,” she said.
The city is hosting a virtual town hall for people to share questions and concerns on the project next week. People can join through Zoom at bit.ly/2AKb0xD using the password 768156 starting 6 p.m. on Thursday (June 4).
Some feel it’s too little, too late.
“What the point?” Scheidt said. “... Community outreach is supposed to be the No. 1 thing.”
Justin Robinson is a resident of the nearby Stewart Heights neighborhood and involved in Safe Streets. Robinson said some of the concerns stem from lack of information about what how people qualify to live at the shelter and what safety procedures will be in place.
He’d like to know if there will be volunteer opportunities.
“I’m kind of hoping to be able to be someone who can be a bit of a liaison for the neighborhood,” Robinson told The News Tribune through social media.
One Eastside resident, Ashley Brant, wrote a letter to City Council in support of the shelter as part of public comment earlier this month.
“I feel the tiny homes are a wonderful idea to help families and people who are struggling to have a home for the moment,” she said in her letter. “That lot has sat empty my whole life, and I feel maybe incorporating people who want to do better will be a positive change for our community is a good thing.”
The city is planning to establish a community advisory council for the site to have ongoing conversations with residents.
“Those are really natural — the tendency is to be concerned about what’s going on in your neighborhood,” Council member Chris Beale, who represents the district where the shelter is relocating, said at the May 19 meeting.
City Council member Catherine Ushka, who represents the Eastside, acknowledged concerns from some of her constituents.
“I’ve been in the Eastside for 20 years, and there’s a sentiment expressed in many of these emails about the Eastside feeling dumped on … because (it) has taken on a lot of different things in terms of high-need populations,” she said. “And I want people to know this isn’t an issue of the Eastside being dumped on. This is an issue of there being a global issue where we have to create more space for people.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
